All the Creatures

Have you seen that TV show on Animal Planet that is called Fatal Attractions? It is about people that keep very dangerous pets and often get killed by them. I have not seen the show yet. From the advertisements I have seen about the show, they cover the big cats and other large animals. Let me tell you that domestic livestock can also be deadly, not because of their personality but by their shear size.

Let’s face facts here people, no pet is “safe” to own. Even your pet cat can scratch you and cause an infection. Your pet horse can accidentally step on your foot and break it. A safe pet is almost an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp or safe diet pills. What the show should have been titled is “exotic pet owners and their deadly outcomes.” The problem with the show is that exotic pet owners are probably more aware of their pets habits and dangerous nature than most people who own a “safe” pet. The show plays up the rare case of the pet owner getting killed by their pet. It is more like a freak show type of TV show.

I might watch it just to see if the show is just sensationalism or ? We’ll see.

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Did dragons actually exist at one time? Or are they fabricated legends based on real dinosaurs?

Imagine yourself as a farmer about 1200 years ago in Europe. You can’t read and the only history you are aware of are from the tales that travelers tell about their journeys in foreign lands. You learned how to farm and plant crops from your parents. One day you are digging a new well and while digging, you unearth a huge bone. The bone is longer and larger than anything you have seen before. You keep digging and then you find a skull of a large beast. You have never seen anything like it before. Your imagination runs wild. You do not know that the bones are fossilized and have been there for millions of years. You assume the bones and skull are a recent death. You then tell your neighbors and the story spreads. Soon someone comes to look at the bones and they declare that they are from a fire breathing dragon.

So the myth now spreads and develops. Someone puts together an imaginative tale of how the “dragon” died. Other people find more bones in the same general area and now the tale has grown to a family of dragons in the area. Any missing livestock are now blamed on the dragons in the area. The same thing with fires that mysteriously start in barns (even though they are probably from spontaneous combustion of improperly cured hay).

You can see how legends like dragons could come about.  Each culture around the world has their own stories of dragons. For more fascinating stories about dragons and how each culture has treated them, read “A Little History of Dragons.”

My daughter is a fan of myths and fantasy. She has a wonderful book called Dragonology which she found on sale several years ago. It is a blend of myth, legend and pure fantasy based on historical finds.

So next time someone talks about a mythical creature, think to yourself that it probably has some basis in fact.

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I had a quest today that took me off course and found something quite interesting. Since the weather has been getting cooler, I started my quest for a new horse blanket and of course looked online for a good one on sale. During that process I discovered a book on wholesale horse equipment manufacturers. Since the book didn’t look quite right to me I Googled the ISBN number of the book. My results were quite interesting.

One of the first things I wanted to know about the book, but was unable to find at first, did the book contain wholesalers in the USA or somewhere else? During my ISBN number search, I found that the book, even though it was printed in Ohio, was available in India, England and a few other countries. I only found 2 reviews of the book and one of them mentioned it was a list of manufacturers in India, the other review was that the book was a re-print of a book that was printed years and years ago.

Now I know for a fact that once a book is over 90 years old, it becomes a “public domain” property unless the author’s family had retained right’s to the work. So it is very possible that someone had an original book that was nothing more than a list of wholesale horse equipment manufacturers from the early 1900’s and then re-printed it for sale to today’s market or that the book was indeed a list of saddle makers in India.

Well, that was my interesting side trip for today. Now back to looking at horse blankets.

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